External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said India’s national security interests are at stake in the investigation into the alleged involvement of a government official in the conspiracy to kill Khalistani extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Responding to a question about that statement by US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti, he told reporters, “It is something that we are investigating because we believe that our own national security interests are involved in that investigation.” ” A citizen of another country is an “unacceptable red line”.
Jaishankar said that the US ambassador will say only what he thinks is the thinking or position of his government.
“My government’s position is that in this particular case, we have been provided some information which we are investigating,” he said, adding that India’s own security interests are involved.
“So, whenever we have something to say on the investigation we will be very happy to speak about it. At this point, beyond the fact that the investigation is ongoing, we have nothing more to say,” the Foreign Affairs Minister he said.
To a question about Indians getting trapped in the Ukraine conflict after being lured to Russia on the promise of jobs, he said India has taken up the matter “very strongly” with the Russian government.
“We are trying to bring all these people back to India safely,” he said.
Last month, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said that several Indians were “tricked” into working with the Russian military and New Delhi had strongly taken up the matter with Moscow for their early release.
He had appealed to Indian citizens not to fall prey to offers made by agents for supporting jobs in the Russian Army and said it was fraught with danger and risk to life.